It's Starting Tomorrow (May 1st, 2008)

Starting tomorrow, I will be participating in a new photo project hosted by Quilly called "Alphabet Photos." I will actually be doing this one with my 4yr old son again. I think it will be fun and educational for him.

What we have to do is simple. We will need to post a photo each day for 26 consecutive days, each representing the letter at hand. For example, on Thursday, we will be called upon to post a photo representing the letter A and then B on Friday. Easy, right?

I really hope you will join in on the fun. This will be a great project to do with your preschoolers all the way up to your grammar school-aged children.

What Was Great About Tuesday?

There were two things that were really great about Tuesday! The first thing was that Jake broke a board in taekwon do class today. That's not the great thing though. He's broken many boards since he started studying TKD at the ripe age of 3. Jake, who is now 4, is still the youngest member in his class. All the other students could break their boards in 1 or 2 attempts. It always took Jake 3 or 4 attempts before his board would break. Today, he broke his board on the 2nd try just like the big kids. He was so proud and so was my husband who had accompanied him to class.

The second thing that was so great about Tuesday was my trip to Gymboree. There is a young woman who works there that remembers me from when the twins were still in the NICU 15 months ago. I always stop to talk to her everytime I go into Gymboree to shop. Well, it seemed like a particularly slow day business-wise for them today. I was looking for a particular size in a sale item and she offered to go check in the back for me. She surprised me by returning with her stash of clearance items from last summer. All the items were brand new with the tags on and I have no idea why these items were stored away because they would sell in a heartbeat if they were on the salesfloor. The prices were reduced considerably. Anyways, she let me pick through the pile of clothing and then she checked the price of each item for me. I ended up spending $69.79 for 26 items!!! Here is a small sample of what I found . . .

Top ($4.99, Reg. $16.50)

Skort ($0.99, Reg. $22.50)

Sunglasses ($0.99, Reg. $9.50)

Top ($2.99, Reg. $19.50)

Tank ($3.99, Reg. $22.50)

Socks ($0.99, Reg. $6.00)

Thanks for reading about my terrific Tuesday!

Project Green: Take Ten

For our final installment of "Project Green," my 4yr old son chose the green ring that accompanies his little brother and sister's stacking toy. He wanted me to photograph the ring alone, but I figured this would be more interesting to the eye. I'm not usually very aggressive with trying new angles. This is about as daring as I get. LOL!!!

"Ring-a-Ding Ding" by Karen & Jake

Thanks for stopping by my newly renovated blog! I still am not in love with the whole 3-column idea. We'll have to see if it's a keeper or not.

Don't forget to stop by Anna's blog to see all the other great Project Green photos!!

Project Green: Take Nine

"Racer 1" by Karen & Jake

"Racer 2" by Karen & Jake

"Racer 3" by Karen & Jake

This subject is another pick by my 4yr old son. I highly recommend these Tiny 'n' Tuff MegaBlok cars by the way. He's been playing with them since he was just over 1 year old. They are all only 3 pieces. It's great for problem-solving and dexterity in toddlers. We have well over a dozen of these.

Please visit Anna's blog for more "Project Green" photos! Thanks for stopping by today!!

Rock "n" Roll Kids Party

Yesterday we attended a Rock "n" Roll themed party for two birthday boys. It was lots of fun complete with a DJ, a bubble machine, inflatable air guitars, sunglasses, maracas, beach balls, balloons, and much more. I was extremely impressed with the microphone cupcakes. I hope the party-throwers don't mind if I share how clever those cupcakes were.

Have you ever baked ice cream cone cupcakes, where the batter is poured right into the wafer ice cream cones and baked in the oven? Well, then you know that after less than a day, the cones become soft. These microphone cakes were not baked in the cone. They were actually cupcakes placed into the opening of the cone after the fact. Then they were all frosted in various colors and decorated with colorful sprinkles. The microphone cords were made with a shoestring-type fruit snack that were threaded through a small hole made in the bottom of each wafer cone. I am guessing that they tied a knot on the end of the fruit string to secure them.

That's not all though! The best part of these microphone cupcakes were the surprise inside. The bodies of the cones between the cupcake and the bottom of the cone were filled with M&Ms!!! If you shook them, they rattled like maracas.

If you are looking for a fun idea for a kids party, I highly recommend a dance party. The kids got to get all their energy out and then you sugar them up on these cool microphone cupcakes (which made the party . . . well, those and the DJ) and send them home. LOL!!!

(Sorry the photos aren't so great. I didn't realize during the party that I would be blogging about those cupcakes, so I was lucky just to scrounge up these fuzzy ones.)

Project Green: Take Eight

"All Bottled Up" by Karen & Jake

This subject is another pick by my 4yr old son. I'm sure it has been done a million times before, but I did not want to tell him no. At least it's not a toy, right? LOL!!!

Please visit Anna's blog Anna Carson Photography to see more "Project Green" photos which ends this coming Tuesday.

Thanks for stopping by!!!

My Photos (W/E 4/26/08)

"Self Reflection of a 1yr Old"

"Air Guitars"


"Hoop-La!"

"The Milky Way"

"On a Mission"

"Pawsitive Attitude"

Click here to see more . . .

Thanks for taking the time to check out my photos this week!

Project Green: Take Seven

"Gifted (Part 1)" by Karen & Jake

"Gifted (Part2)" by Karen & Jake

These are close-ups of one of the gifts shown in the post below. Please stop by Anna's blog Anna Carson Photography to see more "Project Green" photos.

Print and Color Birthday Cards & Wrapping Paper

My 4yr old son was invited to a double birthday dance party today for two brothers . . . one turnes 4 and the other 2. So I thought it would be fun if he colored his own wrapping paper and birthday cards. There are many websites (in addition to ours) that offer free printables, such as birthday cards, coloring pages, etc . . . Here is what we ended up with:

Next time I am going to give him more than just a couple of days to do the coloring. We had to print out four 8.5x11 sheets of the wrapping paper. I made them so that he would only have to color in the circles. He barely got through coloring one before he complained of being tired. Guess who got to color the other three sheets! I was relieved that I had some Diego wrapping paper in my stash for the other gift.

The same thing happended with the cards. He was determined to color in the whole rectangle for the fronts and insides (which I forgot to photograph) of the cards instead of just the characters and the letters as I had suggested to him. Well, can you guess which card he did first? Yes, it's the colorful one. By the time he got to the other one, he just wanted to get it done. In the end, I hope his efforts will be appreciated. He even signed his own name inside each card all on his own. I think he will be proud to present these gifts to the two birthday boys.

PhotoHunt: Unique/ Funny Signs

"Funny Sign"

This is the sign on the front of my 1yr old son's one-piece outfit. I just had to buy it for him when I saw it in the store. Visit tnchick.com for more great PhotoHunt photos!

Project Green: Take Six

Since my 4yr old son is involved in "Project Green," you would probably be surprised if we did not include at least one installment with a diecast car in it. So here it is . . .

"24/Seven" by Karen & Jake

Take see more great "Project Green" photos, visit Anna's blog Anna Carson Photography!

It Happened AGAIN!!!

I have been watching the reality show "Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious" and the season prior to this I had watched "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll." Well, what always happens is that Robin assigns such great songs for the contestants to sing, usually classic songs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, that I always get one song stuck in my head for a week or two. And who suffers the most? . . . My poor family, of course, because I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket or in a Fendi bag for that matter.

Last night I watched the season finale and Chrystina sang the song "What About Love" by Heart (1985). Luckily for my family, I don't know many of the lyrics anymore and just have to hum my way through it.

Now I just wanted to say that I think it was a great surprise that they decided to make the group Girlicious a 4-girl group instead of 3. Although Charlye is extremely talented, I think the judges were right in eliminating her just because she did not appear as if she would be devastated if she did not make it into the group. I also want to add that I enjoy watching this show because the girls are all so talented in both singing and dancing. I am just so impressed with their commitment and how they work their butts off. They can do things I could never do and I just want to bow down to them (that is, if my aching back would allow me to).

Project Green: Take Five

"Brothers" by Karen & Jake

Here is Jake and his little brother Luke. It was Jake's idea to photograph the two in their matching green shirts. Of course, I'm the nerd who bought them matching shirts in the first place.

Stop by Anna Carson Photography to see more "Project Green" photos!

Blackout Dilemma

Last night the electricity went out suddenly for as far as we could see. My husband and I were stationed at our separate computers next to our separate televisions at the time. Luckily our 4yr old was asleep and the twins were easily put at ease after we dug out Jake's "Go Diego" lantern. We always keep a jar candle in the kitchen, a flashlight on the coat rack, and Jake has his own monkey flashlight too. Thankfully, the power outage lasted less than a half an hour.

Anyways, I decided to surf the net tonight in search of fun or interesting things to do during a blackout . . . you know, just so we'll be prepared if it should happen again. Here's what I found:

Seven Things You Can Do at Home During a Blackout

Family Fun: Things to Do When the Power Goes Out

Take Turn Stories

I was pretty disappointed about the lack of resources I could find. If anyone has any fun ideas, feel free to share them.

Project Green: Take Four

"Dragon Pair"

"Scaled Up"

I know there are a million blogs out there, so I'd like to whole-heartedly thank you for choosing to visit mine today. Stop by Anna Carson Photography to see more "Project Green" photos!

Project Looking Through . . . The Overflow

" Sheerly Nature"

"Piece & Love"

"Peek-a-Boo"

"I See You"

"On Top of the World"

Since Mark of Regular Life has brought Project Looking Through to a close and I had a few more PLT photos on deck, I decided to show them all in one post. I really am fond of some of them and felt it would be a pity to waste them.


I am sad that the project has come to an end so quickly, but it is better off anyways. I really must return to the reason why I started my blog originally, which was to post something positive about my day before I go to sleep every night.


Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Project Green: Take Three

"Physical Attraction" by Karen & Jake

This is our 3rd installment for "Project Green." This is a static feather duster that happened to be in my bedroom while Jake was doing his preliminary hunt for green.

To see more Project Green photos, please visit Anna's blog Anna Carson Photography!

Thanks for taking the time to look at our photo!!

Looking Through (No. 05)

"Tubular"

Here is my 5th installment for "Project Looking Through" hosted by Mark of Regular Life. Visit his blog to see more PLT photos! (Even though PLT is coming to an end, I still have a few more photos to post, so I hope you'll come back to check them out over the next few days.)

Thanks for stopping by!!